


Classic Double Trouble

by roguelightning



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:14:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23498083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roguelightning/pseuds/roguelightning
Summary: When it comes to shape shifters, Phoebe doesn't seem to be a very talented one. She gets caught when breaking into Helen's office and swears that Helen is the only one who she can impersonate. But it soon becomes clear that there is more to her than meets the eye. Set during World War Two.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

“Stop right there,” Helen said as she pointed the gun at the stranger. Her room was supposed to be locked, but she had heard a noise coming from it so she had gone to check.

The woman froze in her place and rose her hands up, but didn’t turn around. “Honestly, you don’t want to do this,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. She had an English accent, Helen noted.

“And you don’t want to get on my nerves, especially since I’ve caught you rummaging through my drawers. How did you get here? Are you a spy?”

“The door was open,” the woman shrugged.

“We both know that it wasn’t,” Helen retorted. “Now, if you don’t want me to shoot you, I strongly suggest you turn around.”

The other woman sighed and relented. She turned back slowly and faced Helen, her hands still raised.

“Whatever you do, don’t shoot me,” she pleaded. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much of a mess that will get us into.”

Helen gave no answer to that, freezing in shock at the woman in front of her. It was as if she was watching a reflection of herself. The other woman looked exactly like her, except her hair was all black and caught in a ponytail. Apart from that, however, they could have been twins.

“Don’t move,” she warned the other woman as she went to the door and locked it. Then, she went back to the other woman and circled her, eyeing her up and down.

“What are you?” she asked, uncertainty creeping up in her voice. “Some kind of a shape shifter?”

“Let’s… go with that, yes,” the other woman said, letting out a relieved sigh. “Listen, the best thing you could do is let me go. Preferably forget you’ve ever seen me.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Helen asked, an edge to her voice the other woman didn’t like. “As you’d probably like me to believe you’re a shape shifter. But if that was the case, you wouldn’t have this on your neck, would you?” she asked as she passed her fingers over the other woman’s neck. She had some sort of markings there, like something had bitten her. The wound was healed now, but the marks had remained.

“I don’t have something like this,” Helen mused. “And then there’s also the hair. I was never a brunette, so either you’re not too good with your research, or you’re not too good of a shape shifter.”

“I’m still learning how to use my powers,” the other woman shrugged. “Hair color is a pretty hard thing to change.”

“And the mark?”

“That’s actually a memento,” the other woman said as a smile crept up her lips. “I wouldn’t change it if I could.”

“Those look like teeth marks, actually,” Helen mused. “Not human, obviously, there’s no way a human could have done that much damage to your skin, but-“

“Let’s not talk about this now, OK?” the woman asked. “You won’t like where this will go if we do, and I’d rather have this conversation when you’re not pointing a gun at me.”

“How about we have this conversation now?”

“Come on, Helen, I thought you’d recognize a hickey if you saw one. I mean considering the year you haven’t had much fun in that area, not yet, but-“

“Oh,” Helen said, a blush creeping up her cheeks. “Alright, forget it. We have more important things to discuss than your love life. Like what were you doing in my room?”

“Alright, I’ll tell you,” the other woman sighed. “Can I at least sit down? This is going to be a long story.”

“Sure, I’ll even make some tea for you, if you want,” Helen snapped at her. “You’re not my guest, just in case that wasn’t clear enough for you. Also, I’d appreciate if you didn’t try to lie to me. Start with who you are.”

“My name is Phoebe,” the other woman said. “As you guessed, I’m a shape shifter, albeit not a very talented one. I came here to find James Watson. I know you two are friends, and I would really use his help right now.”

Helen furrowed her brow at that. “James isn’t in the country, actually,” she said, and there was a tinge of sadness in her voice at that. “And what exactly was your plan? Break into my room and find information about his whereabouts?”

“Yes.”

“You could have asked me nicely, you know. Also, no offense, but posing as me isn’t exactly getting you good marks in my book when it comes to trusting you.”

“Trust me, I’m not a fan of wearing your face either. You seem to have a lot of enemies, you know that?”

“Then change to someone else.”

The other woman hesitated a bit before replying. “Do you have any idea how exhausting it is, rearranging all your molecules like that? I am in a bit of trouble myself so I figured it would be best to save my energy for now.”

“What do you want with James?”

“I… want him to help me track someone,” Phoebe explained. “Someone dear to me.”

“The one who gave you that?” Helen asked as she pointed on the mark on Phoebe’s neck.

“Yes,” Phoebe admitted sheepishly. “It’s complicated, actually. I wouldn’t say we’re lovers, not exactly, but he was one of the few men that saw me for who I really was, you know?”

“And who are you, exactly? You’ll have to forgive me for asking that, but seeing that you’re a shape shifter and all that-“

“You don’t know if you should trust me or not,” Phoebe sighed. “That’s understandable. I haven’t given you too many reasons to do so. But I’m planning on changing that. For the moment, however, we need to do something else.”

“What?” Helen asked, but just then she heard footsteps approaching on the corridor.

“Run!” Phoebe said as she headed to the window and opened it.

“I didn’t say you could-“ Helen started saying, but right then somebody started banging at the door. Helen could tell from their voices that there were at least two men, one of them shouting at the other to hurry up.

“Who’s that?”

“They came for me, I’m afraid,” Phoebe sighed. “I would love to continue this discussion, preferably when you’re not pointing a gun at me, but for now you’d do better to come with me.”

“Or I could stay here and ask these men what they want from you.”

“You could,” Phoebe admitted. “But you look exactly like me and they’re not the type to ask too many questions. They’d probably shoot us both before that.”

With a sigh, Helen relented and followed the other woman to the window, still not letting go of the gun in her hands. Phoebe opened the window and stopped for a bit, looking outside before she jumped through the window. Helen could have sworn she heard her mutter something about how she always liked staying at the ground-floor when it came to hotels.


	2. Chapter 2

“Care to share what those people want from you?” Helen asked when they stopped running.

“Not particularly, no. Listen, Helen, I don’t want much to do with you. If you could tell me where James is-“

“I’ll be damned if I knew,” Helen said with a sigh. “We… got into a little fight a few months ago. I haven’t spoken to him since.” At this, a strange look passed over Phoebe’s face, as if she had just realized something. She cursed under her breath at that, but regained her composure soon after.

“Well then, I guess I should just get on my way. I’ll find someone else to help me.”

“Not so fast,” Helen argued. “First of all, I am just as capable as James is, if not more. I get you might want him for his detective skills, but you obviously need protection too and that is more my field than his.”

“I look just like you, Helen,” Phoebe sighed. “We can’t be seen together.”

“Then change into someone else. Heck, change into your true form if you can’t change into someone else. That is bound to be easier, right?”

“Easier, yes. Problem is I’m a bit blue, so-“

“I suppose you mean that literally,” Helen said, a fascinated grin finding its way to her lips.

“Pretty much.”

“You never told me how you got stuck with my face.”

“Well I had to get in your room somehow, didn’t I? Figured this would be the easiest way.”

“And the people that are after you?”

“Can I just say that I pissed them off and leave it at that?”

“Phoebe, I don’t appreciate people dragging me into their problems, especially if they’re not honest with me,” Helen said as she threw her a stern look. For some reason, Phoebe couldn’t help smiling at that.

“Oh I’m sure you make some exceptions to that rule.”

“What?”

“For friends I mean. You’re telling me you don’t have any friends you enjoy getting out of trouble?”

“I don’t appreciate my friends getting into trouble in the first place,” Helen sighed. “Though I know some people who get into trouble more than others.”

“And how do you feel about those friends?” Phoebe asked, curiosity in her voice, but Helen just waved it off.

“Don’t change the subject, Phoebe,” she said, shaking her head as if she wanted to stop her thoughts from wandering off.

“I guess I was just curious,” Phoebe shrugged. “You don’t seem to be the kind of woman that gives into her feelings too much.”

“Don’t know what gave you that impression,” Helen said, a tinge of sadness finding its way to her voice despite herself.

“It’s just the way you talked about Dr. Watson. You two are close, right? I’ve even heard rumors that you two were an item actually.”

“Were being the operative word. We’re taking a break from each other at the moment,” Helen sighed. “Turns out having too many things in common with your lover can be bad for your relationship, I suppose. But we were talking about you and what you did to piss those people off, actually.”

“Have you ever been reckless?” she asked, her voice small all of a sudden, as if she was ashamed of herself. “Have you ever wanted something for yourself and just took it, without thinking of the consequences?”

“I can’t say that I have.”

“Right. You’re too young for that,” Phoebe laughed. Helen looked like she wanted to argue with her at that, but decided against it.

“I fell in love,” Phoebe said with a shrug. “I have been in love for a while, I suppose, but I never realized it. I thought he’ll always be there for me, you know? We always had something, the two of us, and I figured, hell, if one day I’m feeling really crazy, I might as well tell him the truth then. But no rush because it wasn’t like he was going anywhere, you know?”

“And then he left you?” Helen guessed.

“And then he almost died,” Phoebe corrected her. “And all of a sudden I had to face the possibility of a world without him. I fixed it eventually, but I’ll never forget that time. And you’d think after this I’d rush into his arms and tell him the truth, but I didn’t. I waited and then time came between us and then one day I figured I don’t want to wait anymore. So I went to him and we… well. I’ll spare you the details,” she said as she passed her fingers over the scar on her neck, a wistful smile on her lips at that.

“I don’t see what this has to do with the men following you,” Helen admitted.

“Let’s say they weren’t exactly fans of what I did in the past years anyway, but this was the tipping point for them. Though I bet they’d hate the idea of us talking as well.”

“So what, they’re against the idea of you talking to people?”

“At least some of them, yes.”

“So now you want to find this guy and-“

“And warn him that these men will probably come after him too, basically.”

“Sounds like a plan, then,” Helen said with a grin. “But I wouldn’t get out too much if I were you. What do you say I find you some place to hide and then we can worry about finding him.”

“There’s no we, Helen. Trust me the only way this can get worse is if you two meet.”

“What is he, by the way? I mean judging by those teeth marks he’s not exactly human, is he?”

“So?” Phoebe snapped at her. “Just in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly human either.”

“Hey, no judgment there,” Helen said as she raised her arms. “I’ve had my share of weird boyfriends, believe me. I just want to know what I’m getting myself into.”

“If I were you I wouldn’t get into this at all,” Phoebe sighed. “But it’s not like you’re going to listen to me if I tell you to take a step back, is it?”

“No.”

“Should have known you’re the stubborn type,” she muttered. “Alright then. I believe you said something about a safe house?”


End file.
